Starting Anew
by Rodlox
Summary: Slight crossover with Highlander. Kate's not as dead as people thought. In fact, she's alive and well.


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_**request:­**_I have this thing where I can read pretty much anything, though my squicks are non-con. Um, no established relationship would be cool, so first time stuff? Oh, and I can't really write kink, so...

title:Starting Anew

author:Keenir

feedback is prized...even if you say "eh".

summary:Kate starts over.

author's note:I tried to keep Kate from being an Immortal (from Highlander), but she doesn't listen to me! As it is, I kept the Highlander elements to one or two passing references.

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_**LOCATION:**_

_**THE MORGUE,**_

_**NCIS HQ:**_

She woke up. Woke up too soon..

She was still inside. Her pulsed raced alongside her erratic breaths. Too tight, too small! Not enough air! Not a wisp of light.

This cursed chamber! A square honeycomb, an encapsulating prison, a cell of solid metal around her.

Perked ears caught the sound of a latch being released. Kate tensed, readying her eyes for the impending flood of light.

The door opened, admitting the sight of a room with only one row of ceiling lights on. The space around outside her cell was bare, not even a chair to mark the tiles. Kate scrunched herself, springing forwards, rolling on her landing, uncoiling to a standing-up; a person was in her peripheral vision, and she grabbed for his throat, hazy as the sight of him was.

Once she could look at him, she saw who it was she'd slammed against the wall of closed cell doors. Standing right there was Tony Dinozzo.

"What's going on?" Kate demanded.

"Do you know where you are?" he asked.

Her grip tightened a sliver. "Yes."

"You know how special you are?"

And this time, he hadn't sounded like he was hitting on her. "Yes."

"Good," he breathed.

Kate unlightened by that sliver.

"I'm taking my left hand outta my pocket now," he said. "Slowly," and raised it, extending his arm to the side before turning it so the underside of his arm faced her. His shirtsleeve drooped enough for her to see a symbol tattooed just beneath his wrist. "We observe and record your kind," Tony said.

"And?"

"Unless you're feeling frisky, nothing."

"I'm not. What're you doing here?"

One of his trademark grins graced his face. "Figured you'd like a change of clothes. What I brought's certainly better than what Ducky dresses corpses in.

"No offense."

"None taken this time." Which left, in her mind, only one further detail. "So now what?"

"Well, I signed in that I'm going to be doing a little casework late tonight. Unfortunately, the security cameras here in the morgue've been on the fritz lately, so when your body's stolen -- I was upstairs, not hearing anything." He appraised her. "Unless you have a better idea."

"Five-foot two-inch, brown-red hair, no beard or mustache; not well-muscled, but strong enough to hurt you when you tried to arrest him."

Tony nodded. "Good plan. Was he a druggie?"

"You came across him before he or his accomplice could take anything else."

"The 'else' being you?"

Kate nodded. "Which is why you didn't get a look at the accomplice.

"Got it. So, you gonna be back?"

"Maybe." Some day.

"Maybe we'll see each other again," Dinozzo said.

Kate paused at the door, looking over her shoulder. "Those aren't odds I'd bet on." And clubbed him.

Dinozzo collapsed to the floor in an unconscious heap.

She went over her confinement in her thoughts, didn't see herself touching the walls. Nothing she'd done had left fingerprints.

Except --

Gripping Tony's bangs, Kate took a scouring sponge from the sink, and rubbed Dinozzo's throat until she was certain there were no fingerprints left on there. He still had skin, if very pink.

That done, she clipped the hair she'd been gripping him by; his head fell back down.

And only now 12

-- to depart.

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**NEXT DAY:**

**NATIONAL AQUARIUM OF BALTIMORE,**

**HARBOR:**

This would be quite a surprise.

As she strode from the retired submarine to the outdoor seals exhibit, Kate kept her eyes firmly on Ari. Ari didn't know she was there, likely thought she was dead; he was watching the seals, a small smile as he listened to a child expound on seal social lives.

She believed Ari would recognize her, even with her hair black with fiery streaks, even with makeup making her chin look chubby.

One thing still bothered Kate: she'd recognized that emblem that was on Dinozzo's arm. Her teacher's drawn it in the sand, saying the men who bear that mark should be given proper respect, but to avoid those men in the first place. Teacher hadn't said how he'd come to learn of that symbol.

Kate waited until she was almost in his field of view, before saying "Hello again."

To his credit, Ari didn't jump. But he did turn around sharply, startled; doubly so when he saw that his ears hadn't fooled him. His eyes widened, and took their time returning to normal. It was clear he recognized her. "Hello," he said.

"Seals are lovely animals, aren't they?"

A slow nod, perhaps still unsure that this was real. "That they are."

She smiled at him.

"How?" Ari asked.

"Tis a long story," Kate said. "Suffice to say, if you need any help, my schedule's free."

"Perhaps we should have a coffee first," he suggested.

Suspecting it wasn't often Ari found himself surprised, Kate nodded. "I'd love a cup," wrapping one arm around one of his. "My treat." Dinozzo had left a few tens in the jacket pocket.

"I would like that," he said, though he would've preferred paying.

Together, they headed for the restaurant next to the multi-story Barnes&Noble just across the bridge from the Aquarium.

En route, when she rested one hand against the back of Ari's hand, he didn't hesitate to hold her hand, palm-on-palm.

Kate breathed easier. Things were going better this time than parts of the past had.

_Events bore her out, proving her right. Their coffee lingered into a full meal, one enjoyed by them both, as they discussed minor things and major concerns. All was right with the world._

_Time would tell what name she would take next._

_Originally, she was Caterina Theodokos, student of Kronos._

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**The end of this story.**


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